“The play’s women are outstanding, in particular, Alice Bendall, Emilia Kriketos, Meg Girdler, and Laura Wallace. “
“A fun night out. Mystery fans – this one is for you.“
Julia Newbould
3.5 /5 stars
There’s probably no more appropriate theatre in Sydney to stage a quaint Agatha Christie murder mystery than the Genesian Theatre in the CBD. The leadlights, the village church atmosphere – it all seems right.
Poirot’s First Case, based on The Mysterious Affair at Styles, is well adapted by Jon Jory, in a 90-minute well-paced drama.
A minimalist set was cleverly achieved with the use of two chairs, a small box, a moveable dark stain, a small piece of green fabric, and a broken piece of crockery.
Poirot’s trusty sidekick, his Dr Watson – Captain Hasting (Delmar Terblanche) – is first to appear and plays his role well. He explains he has a limp from the war, which has clearly ended not so long ago. He is a guest at a house in Styles, owned by Emily Cavendish (Ros Bilbe), an elderly widow who has recently married a much younger man Alfred Ingelthorp (Frederic Claudel).
We are introduced to the family in the first few scenes – the two stepsons Lawrence (Patrick Gallagher) and John Cavendish (Paul Adderley) and his wife Mary (Alice Bendall), Cynthia who appears to be a ward of Emily, and assorted housemaids.
Of course, where there’s a much younger spouse and a much older richer one, in Agatha Christie world, there is a motive for murder. And one ensues. Emily Cavendish is poisoned with strychnine. No one can work out how and when it was administered, or by whom, and suspicion first falls on the husband.
Luckily for Hastings, he has just seen his good friend Hercule Poirot, who is living in homes provided by Emily Cavendish for refugee Belgians, and he suggests calling him in to help solve the mystery.
Poirot is not convinced it is the husband, and looks closely at the stepson who was to inherit the estate before Emily’s recent marriage.
Poirot, played by Peter Gizariotis, is always going to be compared to David Suchet’s sublime television portrayal. And of course, to me, he will always fall short. Gizariotis has worked hard to make his own Poirot but his accent here is not quite Belgian, nor French, as perfected by Suchet.
It’s not an easy role. Poirot has been hammed up by numerous others, and so making the role believable is difficult. However, the script provides good lines, witty dialogue, and a coherent plot.
The play’s women are outstanding, in particular, Alice Bendall, Emilia Kriketos, Meg Girdler, and Laura Wallace. Each took more than one role. Meg as the servant Dorcas and gardener Manning, showed great comedic timing. Alice was impressive as both Mary Cavendish and the QC Dame Agatha Heavyweather.
As the first of Christie’s Poirot mysteries it sets out the basic plot rules for subsequent novels – a country house setting, a group of suspects confined to the property, and multiple motives – in this case, all the characters have a motive in the money in the old lady’s will.
A fun night out. Mystery fans – this one is for you.
Julia Newbould, Theatre Now
Event Details
